Mosquito training denied

According to Masingale, this annual meeting is the same training meeting the department attends every year. This would have been the first training session for Tashema Ferrell, who was recently hired in the mosquito department.

The Stuttgart City Council did not approve a request to send two employees to the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association meeting in December.

“Since they are over budget I make a motion to only send Daniel (Masingale, director of the Office of Mosquito Control in Stuttgart),” Stuttgart City Council member Ruth Ann Trice said during Tuesday’s meeting.

The remaining council members unanimously accepted this motion.

According to Masingale, this annual meeting is the same training meeting the department attends every year. This would have been the first training session for Tashema Ferrell, who was recently hired in the mosquito department.

“We attend this meeting every year for training, education and to discuss current mosquito control practices in use throughout our industry,” Masingale said in a letter to the Council.

The training and travel expense was already approved through the 2012 budget. But after a late blast of mosquitoes into Stuttgart an extra tote of chemical had to be purchased, which cost the department an extra $21,000, causing the department as a whole to be over budget.

But according to Jane Jackson, with the finance department, the department had $1,500 in its travel budget with $650 used and $845 left to spend on the travel and lodging arrangements for the trip.

“If that is where they get their training we might have to rethink that,” Stuttgart Mayor Marianne Maynard said. “We can do that in November.”

The Louisiana Mosquito Control Association meeting will be held Dec. 3 through Dec. 7 in Lafayette.

Masingale was unavailable for comment because he is out of the office until Monday due to an illness.